Friday, November 30

this week i learned that tumblr during class prompts me to take webcam shots of myself IN class (because holy cow, can you believe what i'm doing during class!?) and then promptly learn that it's a bad idea because sometimes i forget that my sound is on and the photobooth timer starts and everyone knows i'm taking a picture of myself in class. but hey, it's okay.

i operate in weeks of lots of sleep and then week's of no sleep. it alternates. and also, i can only do week's of no sleep one week at a time. this week was a no sleep week and i decided that my favorite time of the day/night was driving home past one in the morning from the library. driving at night is sort of therapeutic? when it's only you, a few street lights, and imagine dragons? so now i actually enjoy my no sleep weeks because i can experience those fifteen minutes at night driving home.

dillon described real, raw conversation that isn't forced as being refreshing and while there are a handful of metaphors that could be made, refreshing is truly the best way of describing it. i thought about that and realized my favorite friendships anymore are ones where it's exactly that: natural, unforced, easy conversation (dillon, you are included in that bee tee dubs).

sometimes i change outfits halfway through the day and when i see someone that i had a class with at 8am at night they say, "Maggie, were you wearing that today?" to which i reply, "No," and the only way I can explain myself is that I have too many clothes and I have a different shirt for every situation. Meaning, what I wore to class might not be library comfortable or going downtown for dinner appropriate. it happens almost every day. and would also explain why my room is literally just a giant closet that happens to have a bed in the middle of it.

lastly, this outfit free week is brought to you by pre-finals midterms. so basically until december 14th i'm going to be a huge ball of cranky and complaints about having a whole lot of cramming to do.

*i'm in class right now and there's a really cute boy two feet away from me face*
*developmental psychology face*
*running into friends at the library faces slash taking a two second break to take a picture with the guy i hardly see anymore now that we don't live in the same dorm*

Tuesday, November 27

i got coffee before lab and if i know anything, it's that when i have coffee on an empty stomach and less than five hours of sleep, my mind goes to bad places and the worst part of my personality rears its head.

then my friend in lab said, hey MAGGIE, we should live together next year since we both want to get a house and you, me, and your roommate are all REALLY chill people and it would be awesome.

WHICH WOULD BE AWESOME.

and then i text my roommate to tell her about the genius idea that we'd never thought of and she replies, MAGGIE, you have no idea what you're doing next year!

so then i sit there, dumbfounded, realizing what she just said is so true.

am i going to study abroad this summer, potentially running the risk of missing my sister's graduation which absolutely can not happen and instead go in the fall!? am i going to live in idaho this summer where i can take pictures, take summer school classes and live cheaply at home, or am i going to live in missoula because i will be renting a house and the lease will start early?! BUT WAIT, that's dependent on deciding on studying abroad and i can't decide if i'm going to apply to any summer internships until i decide on that, either.

AND THEN, everyone, i realized that these decisions are relatively small compared to the great big ones, like choosing to double major and finish school back in idaho once my scholarship dough runs out, and what i'm even doing anymore. in the grand scheme of things, my only plan is to finish school with my degree(s?) and figure it all out after that but it only dawned on me today that i have next to no idea what anything in the next five years looks like and not being pre-med anymore (I SAID IT) means i don't. have. a. plan.

what can i do!? my only accomplishments include getting this far into school as a slightly above average student, learning how to master my curling iron to do exactly what i want it to do on day one washed hair, day two, and day three, building a complete scarf collection, becoming a moderately functional adult living on their own for the first time, eating a serving of fruit every day, creating a photography business spur of the moment that supports my plane ticket aspirations and gas and groceries, nailing craig's list antique furniture shopping, and owning two signed things by john green.

it's terrifying. it's awesome when i'm not on a caffeine high, but terrifying at the moment to the girl who always has a plan. i know it'll all be okay, it will, and the future is exciting.

but... really, what am i going to do next year/summer/fall?

it's probably best at this point to go paint my nails and watch the new gossip girl. and then sob over my physics notes and realize all of this banter is stemming solely from end of the semester nerves.

Monday, November 26

Remember when I thought I had nailed the whole "tripod" thing? Turns out, that was a fluke because the last nineteen times I've tried, I've failed. However, I have an amazing and talented friend who urged me that I could do it and continued to repeat the exact same advice over and over again. Finally, today, in the freezing cold, I tried again. And I debunked my problem! Yay! They're still a bit dim but HEY at least I'm not a fuzzy shape, am I right?

My semester is over in exactly FOURTEEN days and I can't believe it. I got out my Taylor Swift, Michael Buble, and She & Him Christmas CD's the very day after Thanksgiving and I'm in the equivalent of Maggie heaven. It doesn't feel like it should be Christmas let alone the end of the semester already but nonetheless, winter is and always has been my season.

I realized that I rarely end up ever blogging on days that I wear regular denim so today I made a point to do just that. It's a little strange, even for me. I got this shirt at an adorable boutique in Missoula (rarely found together in the same sentence) after going to the mall three times in one week just to look at it. When I finally went back to buy it, the lady working behind the desk complimented what I was wearing and asked if I was interested in applying for a job there.

Aside from that, my Monday was nothing if not a Monday in Maggie style: turning in a project I started at 10pm the night before, walking into the men's restroom and catching a guy using the urinal by surprise, paying for my chai tea latte in all change, and staring at hot mens' butts on tumblr during class. It happens.

P.S. I decided I was over bows a million years ago but I realized today I don't have an opinion yet on pinning large flowers in my hair. Let's pretend it works anyways.

Sunday, November 25

between editing pictures, back to back episodes of season 7 of how i met your mother,
and physics problems, i managed to teach myself html.
i knew it before, but in my last layout, it took some tricky sneaky
moves to figure out and finish after i'd finished the ground work.
low and behold, brooke's blog!
also, you should probably read it... she is a real hoot and i went
to high school with her, just saying.
(also she guest posted for me this summer here!)

Thursday, November 22

for chai tea lattes, because they prevent zits and stress during midterm weeks

for ombre hair, because the messier it looks, the better

for online shopping, because otherwise my wardrobe would be maurices and the buckle

for macs, because for once i've had a computer last longer than a year

for iphones, because i've never been bored in class since

for the internet, because i've met people that are fantastically not boring

for fleece lined tights, because they allow me to dress as impractically as i please in montana without completely freezing to death

for strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, because otherwise i wouldn't eat any fruit ever

for taylor swift, because she wrote a hipster hating album when i needed it

for my fleece northface gloves, because they allow me to drive to school in the morning when my steering wheel is colder than the 15 degree air outside

and mostly, i'm thankful that i'm the kind of person who is thankful for what and who she has every single day of the year. i'm extremely fortunate and blessed to have those people in my life this year there. and i'm thankful that i get to spend an extra long weekend with my three favorite people, cuddled up in my parents' bed in my onsie. truly, i have it good.

Monday, November 19

Here's the thing about blogging: it's my favorite. It's possibly my favorite thing to ever happen to me and it's probably something I'll continue to do for a long time regardless of what shape it takes. It's my favorite way to see how I've changed second to old journals buried in my desk drawers and it's my favorite way to get out all the things in my head that would otherwise just sit there. And lastly, it's where I've connected and met people I never would have. I think people that know me in real life probably think it's weird that I make friends on the internet and meet them, but the thing about it is that this blog is all me. When I meet someone who knows me from my blog, it takes no time at all to "click" because I'm just myself. There are things we have in common no one else in real life does. I guess all in all, the brilliance behind blogging is that it goes beyond just blogging. It does exist in the real world when those connections are made and made real. I love blogging and I'm shamelessly proud of it.

Anyways-- on a completely unrelated note, I learned some new things last week. Wait, what!?

overnight curls are hands down the best. i showered before dinner, put in curling mousse, curled my hair with a 3/4" iron, went to bed, woke up, and had the best curls i've ever had. not too forced or stiff, just relaxed and "hey world! look at my relaxed cool curls that aren't trying hard to stay in position at all! we're just gonna do what we want but still stay curly!"

chai is hands down the easiest thing to make and easy to make well. also, homemade chai is better than coffee shop chai (maybe i'm just telling myself this so i feel better about being cheap these days) and the other night while studying for midterms, i had three cups of it.

i have the facebook bug again and i'm not sure how it happened but it did.

the most liberating feeling is to shamelessly feel the things you feel and express it. honesty is the best policy!

at the grocery store the other day, i accidentally got two percent milk instead of fat free. i've been a skim milk girl since 1993 and since i didn't want to be wasteful (and i'm cheap! sense a theme here?) i decided to enjoy this gallon of 2% milk while i had it. that first bite of captain crunch with 2% was perhaps the best bite of cereal i've ever had and i'm afraid that i'm never going back to fat free. at least, not until i start training for my half marathon. then we'll see.

the best kind of nail polish is gold and glitters.

this dress is my favorite thing ever. peplum and polka dots and a peter pan collar all in one!? it's almost too good to be true.

Tuesday, November 13

sometimes, when i'm in a clothing rut, i don't feel very "me", and nothing in my closet seems to look good thrown together, i simply put something on without more than two seconds of thought and then look in the mirror and ask myself, would kate morrison wear this? if it's a maybe, i'll wear it. if it's a no, it gets thrown back into the pile of clothes on my bed where all the other discards lie. it's rarely an absolute YES because let's be honest, no one else does the kate morrison look like kate herself. she is and always will be perhaps my favorite style blogger, the one who always looks so put together, feminine but still polished with an edge, and effortless. HOW DO YOU DO IT, KATE?

when i put this on today, i said, shorts? really maggie? all black, really maggie? all black doesn't really happen around here. and it did today. i can't really say that i would see kate donning this entire outfit but hey, channeling the studded boots mixed with sweet collared top seemed appropriately kate. i got this shirt at forever21 and it was one of those shirts that caught my eye and didn't let go until it was in my shopping cart two weeks later.

i spent all day doing almost nothing. instead of finishing my paper about iHop, i went to iHop itself for research purposes. and that was the end of that. i spent four hours on a physics assignment that should have taken a quarter of that if not for youtube breaks, facebook stalking, and twitter sprees. it happens to all of us. i bought chai tea again even though i bought myself the actual tea mix so i could make it at home. i was going to get dressed and run a brush through my hair to take outfit photos, but at two pm i was still in my flannel pj set (LET'S REJOICE THAT FLANNEL SEASON HAS ARRIVED FOR A SECOND, SHALL WE?). sometimes, "nothing" days are the best kind of days. tomorrow i'll be productive. and i'm not just saying that. i have to be, because at that point it'll be straight up procrastination cramming.

i did write this blog post, however, and i did run a comb through my hair when i got english muffin crumbs in it. oops.

Monday, November 12

my home town, bless its little heart, is small but wonderfully so. for a town of 10,000 people whose population doubles during the school year when the students are here, it mangages to pack a lot into its two mile radius. i was never one of those people that hated what a small town i grew up in like so many of my classmates and i never felt like there was "nothing to do". i had my "things" to do and i still come back just for the cinnamon roll at wheatberries or the stroll through the cemetery (most beautiful one i have ever seen).

1) go to one world cafe and order an americano (best ever) or their chai tea latte. both are my favorites. get it for here and sit in the upstairs lot next to the railing in one of the adorable upholstered chairs. you can see every person that walks in and you're in the prime people watching location.

2) go to co-op and purchase virginia's tortillas for later. i've been eating her tortilla's for years and it wasn't until my senior year of high school that i actually got to meet the famous tortilla maker herself when she was my chaperone to save sea turtles in mexico. THEY ARE LIKE CANDY. i'm disappointed by every quesadilla i eat in missoula because they aren't used with one of hers.

3) drive on the old high way between moscow and pullman because it's the prettiest/best of the palouse you'll see. either that or drive on the old troy high way on lemhi because there isn't a more diverse drive. canyons, forests, rolling hills, and wheat fields all in fifteen miles.

4) visit the palouse mall. if only to see what a pathetically small mall feels like. mind you, i have to drive 500 miles to even step foot in an urban outfitters or h&m.

5) walk downtown and see the storm cellar because it's truly my favorite cosignment shop i've ever been in. the owner even follows me on pinterest and instagram. and if you wear a vintage dress, his wife/co-owner will compliment you and she's cooler than zooey d. i've found vintage lace boots, floral button up dresses, and the best sweaters. i'm partial to their vintage scarves, too.

6) eat a cinnamon roll at wheatberries. they heat them up for you and they are the size of your head. my favorite is the caramel glazed one with caramel bits inside. absolutely mouth watering. and worth the 600 calories.

7) avoid campus. the university here is 25% greek. or at least, take a walk near the admin building but avoid greek row at all costs. unless you want to be entertained by idaho sorority girls in cowboy boots and flannel with greek letters embroidered.

8) walk through the fort russel historic district and see some of the prettiest houses you might ever see. many were built in the late 1800's or early 1900's. we're talking houses with turrets, stained glass windows, iron gate fences, bright colored doors offset with their brick exterior, white shutters, enormous multi level victorians, and everything else. it's my favorite part of moscow.

9) go to winco with twenty dollars and load up on all of their bulk food in bins. you can get everything in their bulk section; m&ms, peanuts, pesto, animal frosted cookies, sour patch kids, mozzarella, cocoa powder, white chocolate chips, and caramel covered pretzels.

10) eat at mike's. hands down best greek gyro's you will EVER have in your life.

Thursday, November 8

remember when i realized dresses and i had never really broken up, i'd just fallen out of love with florals? well, folks. i think i was wrong... again. because i'm all for this dress. i realize now maybe it was how i was styling them. and maybe i was getting tired of feeling like a four year old when i wore them. and maybe this new hair makes even floral a little less girly. who knows?

i love realizing that everything happening right now feels like it's happening how it was supposed to. i love that i've come into myself and figured out what makes me happy. a friend told me the other day that he thought i seemed adventurous and while i've always love adventure, it struck me that i finally feel like i am becoming the person i want to be. i want to travel and go on crazy trips that take more time to get to than i'm even there for. i am in this point in my life where i just want to see every single thing i can, meet every person i can, and do everything i've always wanted to do. not later, not in a few years, but right now. i think that i would have become this person i am today regardless, but i had the tendency over the past year to tell myself that i would get to everything else eventually. i'd study abroad someday, i'd try new hobbies eventually, and i'd figure what i truly wanted to do later. instead, it's all happening right now and i'm so excited about the future. i'm sorry if this is a dead beaten horse on my blog anymore but i just can't get enough of this thirst to be everything i can right now and push myself.

i went to the mall here two days ago with a friend who specifically needed to get a pair of tights from the gap. now, in seattle i found nothing i really wanted except for cool socks, but in missoula i somehow found myself making a christmas list ten items long. THIS NEVER HAPPENS.

somehow i'm on a lucky streak at starbucks where i've only paid for two of my drinks in the past two months. today i went to buy tea to make myself chai tea lattes every morning, got suckered into buying one of their holiday cups (i mean, i did ruin my previous one in the dish washer...), and because i just couldn't wait until i got home to make one, ordered a chai tea latte. the order rang up as $24.80... and yet with one wink of the male employee, i was only charged for the tea tumbler and he gave me my drink and tea for free? it made my week.

i'm heading home for the long weekend because i was able to book enough work to make the trip worth it and i am almost peeing my pants at the thought of possibly driving in the snow storm that may or may not hit. here's to hoping my subaru does me well!

Wednesday, November 7

this is awesome because if you're me, an out of state student, you've already sent in your absentee ballot and you get to spend a tuesday off doing whatever you want. days off in the middle of the week are awesome. so how did i spend my day?

unfortunately, my brain has decided it is, in fact, an early rising kind of brain. so even though it woke up at 7:00AM, i watched an episode of HIMYM until i drifted back to sleep again. and i repeated this until 11:00AM. it was kind of the best way to wake up ever.

i figure there are bigger problems on election day than what a college student at target's hair looks like and i can slip by unnoticed, so a morning shower was definitely skipped.

put on my wonderfully soft sweater i purchased at the gap for $15 on sale last night. WIN, guys, WIN.

went to target. bought a dozen CD's so i could burn half a dozen of my last clients' photographs onto them ($!).

SKIPPED starbucks and came home to make my own brewed coffee.

watched a few more episodes of HIMYM (barney just met his DAD, guys!).

cleaned my room in and out. did 4 loads of laundry. realized there is nothing more freeing than a clean room and it feels like my mind can breathe again.

talked on the phone to two people i adore. one who is taking life by the horns (is there a less corny quote for that?) and one who just went through something i know all too well (see what i did there?).

went to the post office. sent more cds and generally tried to look away from the montanians sporting their "i'm voting for ____" stickers. i'll give you a hint... they had cowboy boots on.

made mac&cheese because i haven't been to the grocery store in three weeks and hey, it's fast. i managed to overcook the noodles which meant soggy mac&cheese.

worked on my paper. was distracted by facebook conversations. finished my paper between twitter checks for election results and anxiously bit my nails.

ate pumpkin ice cream (i know, i know) to soothe the nerves.

finished my paper, put on my fuzzy socks, and said YAY. i can sleep easily tonight knowing my ovaries are safe and in three more states everyone is allowed to love who they love.

*officially, election day is my favorite day every two years. it's so fleeting and fast and wonderful for doing anything i want when i want it to happen.
**and this is as political as you will ever see me on this blog. promise.

Tuesday, November 6

it seems like it's become a tradition. for four semesters straight, i've taken at least one weekend trip to seattle. and every single time i love it more than the previous time (which i swear every time just isn't possible). i swear, i might be becoming a bit of a city person and while this thought terrifies me, it's easy to come to terms with. the pier? shopping on the ave? portage bay? starbucks on every single block? ferris wheel? molly moon's? bainbridge ferry? the clearance basement in urban outfitters? my family being downtown? the awesome crazy architecturally insane buildings (public library, for starters) that are literally next to an old brick building that stops me in my tracks? driving to the U-district and seeing the city from behind you? the many "Hunter" rainboots twins i had? i mean, i'm kind of infatuated with it. and i'm determined that at some point, i'll live there. whether it be a summer, graduate school, or for an internship, it just needs to happen. i'm still dying to find some gold mine thrift stores and venture outside of downtown, but that only means i have to keep going back. right!? right!?
we left missoula at 1:13pm on the dot with an estimated time of arrival 8:06pm. with three potty breaks (where pictures were taken, of course) and a construction stop over the pass, we managed to get in at 8:34pm. i knew you were trouble became the trip theme song. played on repeat, every lyric learned, the entire car vibrating with bass down the high way. i'm telling you, there's no better way to forced friendship than to be squished into a car for 8 hours with a group of people. i think one of my favorite parts of every trip to seattle is the moment the city sky line is in sight from the interstate. every small town bone in my body disintegrates and all of the sudden my heart is cheering for skyscrapers, real shopping, busy crowds of people, and noise.
it's become tradition on every trip to seattle that i start off my saturday morning with my uncle and his adorable kids. having them there and being able to see family so easily when i'm downtown is awesome. i love that my relationship with my extended family just keeps growing as i get older and that i get to watch my little cousins grow up. we ended up waiting for nearly two hours to get a table in portage bay but in all honesty, it was actually worth it. if you're ever in seattle LOOK IT UP. it's their favorite and their french toast is amazing. also, i ate an entire bowl of their fresh strawberries and it was amazing (for me to say that is a big deal.)
this trip was the trip of coffee and bathroom breaks. i had coffee three times in total. also, i recently started reading dillon's blog and if you don't read it, YOU SHOULD. i told him i would be in his hometown and he told me to have a cup of coffee for him. so i did so quite literally, naturally. and then i decided after telling the barista my name was Dillon that it would actually be an adorable name for a girl (sorry dillon! it's cute for a guys name, too, of course). i can't wait to come back to seattle again in the summer and be given a grand tour from him (THRIFTING PLEASE!).

in what was perhaps the highlight of the entire trip and best thing to happen ever in my life, i got to meet Elanor! Elanor has been a blog friend of mine for a while. we went through similar relationship woes this summer and it was awesome to feel like we were going through it together. she is so AWESOME ya'll and even though i feel like my spaceyness came out in all its glory around her, she was a trooper while my phone was dying and i was trying to navigate pike's (oh boy...) and find my friends and keep telling her to postpone what time she came into seattle on the bus because breakfast was still not happening. more about this will come later. i happened to forget my camera in the car so it was left up to her to take pictures.

my best friend laura was kind enough to give my new internet friend (ha... does explaining that get any less awkward, ever?)(EVER?) a ride to campus. thanks laura! afterwards, we got onto the ferry to bainbridge island where laura is from. i've never been on a ferry and let me just say... it was AWESOME. i was geeking out the entire time. the view of the sky line was gorgeous. i think i fell in love with ferries. we spent the night on the island in which i slept better than i have months. the extra hour in the morning was the true icing on the cake. we lazily got out of bed and had a casual breakfast in downtown bainbridge. i got a donut muffin and it was the best pastry i've had in my entire life. paired with a chai latte and i was in heaven.
we left seattle in the mid-morning, taking another ferry ride back, and made the 8 hour haul back to montana. seattle fall 2012 trip SUCCESSFUL. and i'm definitely more in love than i was before. i'll see you this summer, seattle.